Tor burning wet fuel



`effect Y UMosEsrHoMrsoN, or HENRIoo COUNTY, VIRGINIA.

ffrunNAoE Fon BRNINQ WET Font.

`i speeieetien ef Letters Patent Ne.1e,e78, dated April` 1o, 1855. n

Toitizlevihohtiz't .i 4

`\ i Be it `known that IQKMOSES ing operations; Tandl' doherebyfdeclare that the ifollowing "is a full, clear, `and e exact `descriptionjofl the"`san`1e,"` reference being had` tol t-he accompanying` rawing,` forming part ofu 1 this specification, injlwhichf` .,F'gure 1,*isa horizontal sect1 `pending @partsfin the"` several figures.

Themainj` object "of, my` invention is -i to effect the`V1nore economical use*` for fuel, of* `irari"-loa1-lz,V u bagasse, or other trashy hmatters in afwetstate, butlwherefthefuel is dry it is,

`Iiiuch less"I useful andfI,` dofnot claim its application thereto. `is Falso :applicable to r the burning" ofwfuel of that" or other descripl" tions in a dry stately.l

1 The nature of my eating withjthe sameheating f1ue`,;which said "re chambers arelfurnishedwith dam-` lpers by which their; respective communicathen admitting al freesupply. of air to pro` mote its rapidrcombustion to be conducted r u interruption togthe operations` which the heat generated` is intended to without To enableothers skilled "inthe art tomake `and use myinvention,` Iwillproceed to de-` scribe itsV construction` and operation.

"The furnace shown inthe drawings, has

"three fire chambers, AA",`A". Three is `the number shown, as 1I `consider thatnum- "ber in most cases to beybest adapted .for practical operatiom; The lire `chambers are ofsquare, but `maybeoffother forni, with` Y grate bottoms, B, Bp', `B",`.and arched Stops.r They are separated by wallsof non conduct- THoMPsoN, of thecounty of Henrico and State of Virginia, have invented*I u a new and V useful improvement in burning tan-bark, bagasse, sawdust, f and otherA kinds of `fuel in` a wet state for` the purpose of; r creating` heat, Yto `generate steam, or `togbefemployed in heating or `dryu on of afuri nace, constructed according to my invention. Fig; 2, 1s averticalsection of the same, 1n`

p Similar `letters of reference indicate correg `s u nvention consists Vin the employment `in" the mannen hereinafter described, of a `seriesfof fire chambers, ar` ranged `side byvside, oryin any convenient way to admit of the wholeseries communi ing material, and lined throughout with` fire brick. `Each is provided with a door, C, in front,\for the purpose of lighting and tendmg the fire, `with an opening, D, at the top,

it consists `of tan-bark, saw dust, lor other materialof a similar nature, and with an opening, E, at the back, which leads to the flue,"F.; the opening, E, being provided with a' u damper, K. Each re chamber has a separatefash` pit, G, below it, which is furnished witha door, H, to regulate the ad- The flue, F, extends across.

mission of air. the back of all three fire chambers, and the chimney may be at one end, or may be placed iin theV rear with a flue, I, leadingto it from the flue', F. If the furnace is used for "generating steam, the best place for theA boiler willbein the flue, I, which will be made of proper size to receive and nearly surround it- If `used for otherpurposes, any arrangementmay be made that may be considered best, but the thing to be heated (ought to beso high as not to require the products of combustion to descend on their passage to it.

The modeof conducting the operations of the furnace is .as `follows-Fires `being lighted in all the fire chambers, two of the three have .the doors, H, H, of-their ash pits closed, and the dampers, K, K, so nearly closed as onlyto allow a suiiicient escape of t-hegases generated by the slow combustion which then goes on, to prevent explosion. The other fire chamber in the meantime has the damper,` K, open, and the door` of the ash pit `opened far enough to admit any quantity of air that may be requisite to promote such a degree of combustion 'in the chamber as may be necessary to generate the amount of heat required.' The airshould be drawn in (except when excluded) by natural draft, and if a high stack be used there should be a damper in it to check the draft. When the fuel in the open chamber is reduced to a desirable degree, that chamber is closed and recharged', and another opened and supplied with air until the fuel within it vis reduced, when it is closed, recharged, andqanother opened; each in its turn being opened and freely supplied with air, to generate and supply the requisite amount yof heat, while the others are closed and successively supplied withA fresh wet fuel to heatand decompose the fuel to such a degree as is desirable before allowing '60 for the` purpose of supplying the fuel when rapid combustion and escape of the heat to take place. Each fire chamber should be supplied successively with fuel at proper intervals by any convenient means, either through the hole, D, or through the door, O, in front just before closing the fire chamber.

The principal advantage of a furnace and process of this description consits in heating and decomposing the fuel- Without any fur-' -Another advantage consists in always holding a certain quantity of Vheat in reserve in the closed chambers, which may be immediately brought into action by opening one or more of the chambers. A similar, but inferior result might be prdduced by having several separate grates and ash pits to the same fire-chamber, each grate charged successively and its ash pit for a time closed immediately after fresh charging, to eX- clude the air. I have described this in my caveat upon Which this application is based, but do not use it because of its inferiority in practice, although it involves my principle.

After ample experiments I have discovered that any results Which canV be produced by the use of dry fuel, are entirely inferior to mine in proportion to the quantity used, and that results like mine can only be attained by the use of Wet fuel, similar to what I have herein mentioned, fed into lan intensely heated chamber. Under such circumstances, the Water in the fuel, in the presence of the carbonaceous substances in the furnace, will be decomposed, giving its oxygen to the carbonaceous matter, dispensing Wit-h a draft and its cooling and Wasteful influences, and rendering the combustion so perfect that no smoke is visible.

I do not claim the Within described arrangement of a series of fire chambers to communicate with one common flue irrespective of the purpose for Which, `and the manner in which I employ the said arrangement. But

'Vhatf I do claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-e f The combustion, for the purposes of a high degree of heat, of bagasse, refuse tan, saw-dust, and other refuse substances, or very AWet and green Wood, by the employment of a series of fire chambers arranged in any manner substantially as described, to communicate with one flue, when any number of the said chambers are nearly closed to the flue, and to the admission of air when first charged, as described, While the remaining chamber or chambers is infree communication With the flue, and has a free supply of air admitted, and each chamber in :its turn 'is nearly closed and then opened, and has air admitted-whereby the heat required is furnished by the combustion of the fuel in one or more chambers, While the fuel in the other chamber or chambers, isbeing heated and decomposed to a desirable degree, as herein set forth, no artificial blast being used.

MOSES THOMPSON.

Witnesses:

' O. D. MUNN,

JN0. W. HAMILTON. 

